Sharp County record., 1887-09-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
u
The Tribulations and Rewards OF
True Christian Hospitality.
The Stranger at Our Gate To-Day Be-
comes Our Defender To-Morrow-
The Hospitality of the Home
Beyond the al<ies.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in his eighth
sermon at ''The Hamptons," took for MS
subject Hospitality" from which he de-
livered brief but pointed discourse. his
text was:
Given to hospitality-Romans XII, 13.
!. NThere is danger that the multiplication
- large and commodious hotels in our
wns and cities and villages will utterly
sterminate that grace which Abraham
e Exhibited when he entertained the angels;
"a which Lot showed when he watched
3 r guests at the gate of the city; and
e2=hich Christ-~recognized as positive
! rgouisite for entering Heaven, when he
declared:
| Twas a stranger and ye took me in.
I propose to speak this morning OF the
trials and rewards of Christian hospitality.
! The first trial often comes in the whlm
and eccentricity of the guest himself.
There are a great many excellent people
who have protuberances OF disposition,
! and sharpe edges of temperament, and
| tnpliability of character, which make
| them a positive nuisance in any house
where they stay. On short acquaintance,
they will begin to command the house
/ s,old affairs order the employees to un-
! usual service; keep unreasonable hours;
| use narcotics in places offensive to sensl-
| tive nostrils; put their feet at unusual
/ Elevations; drop the ashes of their Havana
on costly tapestry; open bureaus they
ought never to touch; and pry into things
\ they ought never to see; and become I'M
uervious to rousing bells; and have all the
IRREGULARITIES of the gormandizer or the
dyspeptic; and make excavations from
spoor dentistry with unusual implements;
and in thousand ways affiict the house
fhold which proposes to take care OF them.
Added to ALL they stay too long. They
have no idea when their welcome is worn
I out, and they would be unmoved even
by the blessing which my friend, Gerrlt
Smith, the philanthropist, asked one morn
: ing at his breakfast table, on the day when
he hoped that the long protracted guests
! would depart, saying: 30 Lord, bless the
provision, and our friends who leave US
| to-dayW
But, nv friends, there are alleviations to
be put on their side of the scale. Perhaps
| they have not had the same refining in
fuences about them in early life that you
have had. Perhaps they have inherited
eccentricites that they can not help. Per-
haps it is your duty, by example, to show
| them better way. Perhaps they are
sent to be trial for the development OF
your patience. Perhaps they were to be
| Intended as an illustration of the opposite
of what you are trying to nculcate in the
minds of your children. Perhaps it is to
make your home the brighter when they
are gone When our guests are CHEEKY,
and fascinating, and elegant, it is very
: easy to entertain them; but when we find
in our guests that which is antagonisticto to
our taste and sentiment, it is a positive
triumph when we can obey the words Of
my text, ard be "given to hospitality"
Another trial in the rsfns - this grurov-
Is in the toll and expense of exercising it.
In the well-regulated household things go
smoothly; but now you have introduced
foreign element into the machinery, and
though you may stoutly declare that they
must take things as they find them, the
Martha will break in. The ungovernable
stove; the ruined dessert; the delayed
marketing; the perplexties of caterer;
the difficulty Of doing proper work, and
vet always being presentable. Though
you may say there shall be no care or
anxiety, there will be care, and there will
be anxiety.
In 1894 the Captan-General provided
very grand entertainment, and among
other things he had fountain in his gar
- ,tr Hrin 4
were four hogsheads Of brandy, eight
hogsheads of water, twenty-five thousand
lemons, thirteen hundred pounds of Lis
bon sugar, five pounds of grated
nutmeg, three hundred toasted bis
cults, and boat, built on purpose, was
placed in the fountain, and boy rowed
around it and filled the cups of the people
who came there to be supplied. Well, you
say, that was luxurious entertainment,
and of course the man had no anxiety; but
Ihave to tell you that, though you had to
propose an entertainment like that, you
have anxiety. In that very thing comes
the divine reward.
We were born to serve; and when we
serve others, we serve God. The flush on that
wOman's cheek, as she bends over the hot
stove, is as sacred in Gods sight as the
flush on the cheek of one, who, on hot
day, breaches the gospel. We may serve
God with plate, and cutlery, and broom,
as certainly as we can serve him with
psalm-book and liturgy. Margaret, Queen
of Norway and Sweden and Denmark, had
a royal cup of ten lips, on which was re-
corded the names Of the guests who had
drunk from this cup. And every
Christian woman has a royal cup, on
which are written all the names of those
who have ever been entertained by her in
Christian style; names not cut by human
ingenuity, but written by the hand of
divine Jesus. But, my friends, you are
not to toll unnecessarily. Though the fare
be plain, cheerful presidency of the table,
and cleanliness of appointments, will be
good enough for anybody that ever comes
to your house. John Howard was invited
to the house of a nobleman. He said: ~
wifi come on ono condition, and that is
that you have nothing but potatoes on the
table" The requisition was complied
with. Cyrus, King of Persia, under the
same circumstances, prescribed that on
the table there must be moth
ing but bread. OF course these were
extremes, but they are illustration of
the fact that more depends upon the
banqueters thanupon the banquet. want
to lift this idea Of Christian entertainment
out Of positive bondage, into glorious